Champions League nights can be very cruel and it has been proven on many occasions that teams don’t always get what they deserve. I understand that fortune does play a part in these knockout competitions, but we literally had no excuses for our inability to bury Real Madrid and kill off the tie. We literally had a million opportunities to see them off, but each time we offered them a...
Who will start for City at Right back? This was the question ringing through yesterday’s press conference. Everyone is intrigued about how Pep will deal with this situation. Given the reputation of Pep, you would be a very brave man to bet against something unusual happening at the right back position. We know that all of Madrid’s planning throughout the week would have been targeted at exploiting the right back...
Gabriel Jesus has not been in the best of form heading into this clash against Watford. In fact, i did not have him in my predicted line up before the game. It was surprising for me to see his name in the lineup, but i thought that Pep was resting players like Mahrez for the Madrid game. To put it all together, it was a game where most people had...
City’s defense has been outstanding in the recent weeks and if not for the solidity at the back, we could have easily been out of the Champions League. But, all of this has come at a huge price. I am now starting to worry about the thread bare options we have been left with at the back. Specially the injury to Walker is something that will impact us both offensively...
The title race in 2018-19 was the ultimate pressure cooker test i have witnessed. The most surprising fact was that neither of City or Liverpool wilted under the immense pressure and the footballing world was stunned with the fact that both the teams maintained a perfect record in such difficult circumstances. This title race takes me back to the memories of that season and still gives me goosebumps remembering the...
It all started late last night. A lot of reports started pouring in about the transfer of Haaland to Manchester City. Many reports have said that the huge salary demand of Haaland has been agreed by City and the transfer is at its final stage. But, it is very hard to believe all of the reports on the web. Most of them are generally not true. I was looking for...
This past week has been a clear example of how much City have missed a classical Number 9. Yes, we have missed a ruthless finisher to put away the beautiful art created by KDB and others. But, more than that we have missed a presence upfront that could offer an out ball during the bad phase of the game. Yes, i am talking about the Atletico Madrid tie here and...
The last 7 days were some of the most grueling and harsh we have faced in recent memory. Specially the physical and mental battering in that Atletico second leg meant that it was almost impossible to turn up in that FA cup tie against Liverpool. Yet, it was a commendable performance for the sheer spirit we showed in the second half and almost snatched an unlikely equalizer at the end....
As the final whistle echoed through Wembley, there was strangely a sense of calmness in Pep’s eyes. I strongly feel that this defeat would not have hurt him as much as the pundits and media made of it. By now, you might be thinking that i am out of my mind and writing rubbish. But, if you look at City’s upcoming schedule and take into account what happened at Atletico,...
What a second half that was! I was rubbing my eyes in disbelief as i was seeing Atletico play out of our press time and again with such ease and simplicity. How could Atletico play one touch football with such precision. It seemed absolutely impossible. But, here it was bamboozling the City defense time and again. It seemed only a matter of time before we conceded the first and maybe...
